Long Reads
Fancy a deeper dive into a topical issue like stadium re-development or the club’s finances? Or just the opportunity to soak up some nostalgia or a player interview? At True Faith we pride ourselves in our ability to take a step back and offer a more in-depth perspective than most online fan media. So, take some time out and enjoy our Long Reads. They’re the very opposite of worthless clickbait.
Previous Long Reads
The NUFC Financial Accounts 2022-23
These days, it's as important to understand what's going on in the accounts as it is on the pitch. Fortunately, Andy Trobe is on hand to help us out and make it all make sense! And contrary to the doom-laden reports in the press, there are plenty of positives to go...
Newcastle United and our Basque Bretheren
True Faith with a colour piece regards the links between Newcastle United and that symbol of Basque pride, Athletic Bilbao. This piece was taken from issue 127 of the hardcopy fanzine. By Athletic fan and adopted Geordie Julen Izagerre.
Sunderland Away 2024 – Will We Meet Again?
7am alarm to get to a game in Sunderland that starts at 12.45pm. That’s just ridiculous really. I’d imagine people further south had to get up even earlier and there’s a couple of lads next to us in The Gallowgate who live in Chesterfield and the earliest they could...
Sunderland Away – Bubbles and Squeaks
It has come to pass, we drew Sunderland away in the FAC and the clubs agreed to Newcastle United supporters getting 6,000 tickets in a stadium with a capacity of 48,000. Fair play to the Newcastle United Supporters Trust who got in very early to make plain the...
A rebuilt stadium – Would it still be St James’ Park?
All Newcastle United supporters have an opinion on what should happen in the club's efforts to get more fans in to see the team play ' a relocation to a new stadium has been widely discussed . 'In this piece Stephen Hodgson, a construction expert who has managed...
Fear and Loathing at the Stadium of Shite!
FA Cup 3rd Round (or, 'Trever Steven and that bloody ball No.27.') Sunderland v Newcastle United, Stadium of Shite, 6/Jan/24, KO:12:30.' I was over the moon back in 2017 when we swapped places with that mob from down the road. If promotion was the geet big moist cake,...
TF Long Read – They Do Know What They’re Doing! Mostly…
All good things come to those who wait. Especially on international break. Not for TF's Martin Baker, the immediate thrills of social media noise - instead he takes a step back and uses this years Amazon documentary to assess the strengths and otherwise of our...
TF Long Read: When Tino Came to Toon
Last week saw the 54th birthday of one Faustino Hern'n Asprilla Hinestroza. As we all get used to our new Tino, Scott Robson remembers how we signed the first and what it meant to a generation brought up on Billy Askew and Mark Stimson. *** At the turn of the year in...
TF LONG READ – Things To Do in Burslem When You’re Dead…
PSG one week, Port Vale the next. In the tournament formerly known as Papa John, this week's stop for United's U21s was Vale Park. Matthew Philpotts was there for TF, along with a handful of Toon fans and a thousand locals to reflect on the meaning of life... and...
St James’ Park ‘ now is the time to stick or twist!
It's the day after Newcastle United has put French aristocrats Paris Saint Germain to the sword in the Champions League. 4-1 ' it might have been more. The world's foremost player, Kylian Mbappe was rendered a mere mortal by the intensity, the ferocity of a team and...
Growing Pains
YOUSEF HATEM (@yousef_1892) looks at the changes made to ticketing for 2023-24 and asks whether the club might be biting the hand that feeds…
Blank Expression ‘ Fan media and white noise!
My cards on the table. I love(d) fanzines. That's probably no surprise given I edited the hard copy TRUE FAITH from its inception until the point the format was overtaken by the possibilities of digital media. A lot of people find that sad and I do too to a degree. I...
Jordan Henderson Is Innocent!
The joke between Newcastle United supporters is we never realised for so many years we lived next door to thousands of Amnesty International activists with special interests in human rights abuses committed in Saudi Arabia. That those committed and energetic...
TF LONG READ – Understanding Saudi Arabia and NUFC: Part 2
In the second part of his two-part special on Newcastle United / Saudi Arabia, YOUSEF HATEM (@yousef_1892) sets out some thoughts on how we can continue to engage with these issues constructively. In part one (link here), I mentioned that I thought the price of...
TF LONG READ – Understanding Saudi Arabia and NUFC: Part 1
In the first part of a two-part special on Newcastle United / Saudi Arabia, YOUSEF HATEM (@yousef_1892) writes about the importance of understanding the Kingdom, if we want to continue to engage in these debates at all. *** You may have surmised, from my name, that I...
TF LONG READ – VAR From the Madding Crowd
Another day, another VAR controversy. On Sunday, it was the penalty that never was. Or at least that was until it wasn’t. With no end in sight to the apparently relentless stream of ever more baffling decisions, Matthew Philpotts tries to cut through the noise to the facts and establish the real impact on our season of the Stockley Park machinations.’
TF LONG READS – Thinking Outside the (Pixelated) Box
No prizes for guessing that United feature heavily in the TV table this season. But what does it all mean for the traditional Saturday 3pm? Is it too late to save it?' Sam Dalling dives deep into why we should care and how we can fix it. Careful, we are into manifesto...
TF LONG READ – Club Accounts 2021-22: What Do They Mean?
NUFC have released their accounts for last season (21/22). Lest you've forgotten, the new owners bought the club on 7/10/21. This is the first set of accounts since 2007 without Mike Ashley as owner. And for the first time in years, they're not the last to file their...
TF LONG READ – Shearer, Shoot-outs and South Shields: Kevin Phillips Interview
True Faith's Sam Dalling got the chance to spend the day at South Shields FC in the company of resident Toon b'te noire Kevin Phillips, discussing not only football management and the Shields project, but also Ruud Gullit and that monsoon. Turns out he's an annoyingly...
TF LONG READ – Loyalty Points: Is there a better way?
As NUFC away ends continue to sell out weeks in advance, and demand for tickets is through the roof, MATTHEW PHILPOTTS (@mjp19731) asks: Is the loyalty points scheme fit for purpose?' You're a brave man, Matthew... There's a common misconception that the geopolitical...